Martin Vaculík (born 5 April 1990) is a Slovak

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider.

Career

On the 6 May 2008, Vaculík gained a Polish speedway licence (''Licencja "Ż"'') at

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

. and from 4 June 2008 he has taken part in the Polish Championships as a Polish domestic rider. In 2012, Vaculik won his first ever Grand Prix as part of the 2012 World Championship, he won the 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland in Gorzów. The following year he won the 2013 Speedway European Championship. After missing the World Championship from 2014 until 2016 he returned in 2017 and won the 2017 Speedway Grand Prix of Slovenia. He won his third Grand Prix during the 2018 Speedway Grand Prix series when winning the 2018 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland II. His only venture into British speedway (in 2018) ended in unfortunate circumstances after he broke an ankle riding for Leicester Lions in only his second outing with them. In 2019, he rode strongly and finished in 5th place in the World Championship but suffered several injuries that affected his 2020 and 2021 performances. Vaculík finished in 9th place (despite injury problems) during the 2022 Speedway World Championship, after securing 91 points during the 2022 Speedway Grand Prix, which included winning the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and Toruń Grand Prix. He later broke his shoulder during a Polish league match. He was selected as a full time rider for the 2023 Speedway Grand Prix and won the Czech Republic Grand Prix in June and Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain in September. He went on to secure a career best finish in the World Championship by claiming the bronze medal. During the

2024 Speedway Grand Prix The 2024 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 30th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 79th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the third series promoted by Discovery Sports Events. A new sprint race was introduced at sele ...

, Vaculík secured a third consecutive Czech Republic Grand Prix and won the Polish Grand Prix in Wrocław.

Major results

World individual Championship

* 2012 Speedway Grand Prix - 11th * 2013 Speedway Grand Prix - 14th * 2017 Speedway Grand Prix - 9th * 2018 Speedway Grand Prix - 13th * 2019 Speedway Grand Prix - 5th *

2020 Speedway Grand Prix The 2020 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 26th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 75th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the 20th series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company A new p ...

- 9th * 2021 Speedway Grand Prix - 12th * 2022 Speedway Grand Prix - 9th * 2023 Speedway Grand Prix - 3rd *

- 5th

Grand Prix wins

*1: 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland (Gorzów) *2: 2017 Speedway Grand Prix of Slovenia *3: 2018 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland II (Gorzów) *4: 2022 Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic *5: 2022 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland IV (Toruń) *6: 2023 Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic *7: 2023 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain *8: 2024 Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic *9: 2024 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland (Wrocław)

World junior Championships

* Individual U-21 World Championship ** ''

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

- 12th place in the Semi-final 2'' **

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Pardubice Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

- 5th place (9 pts) ** ''

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

- 16th place in the Semi-Final 1''

European Championships

Speedway European Championship The Individual Speedway European Championship is an annual individual speedway event organized by the European Motorcycle Union (UEM) to determine the champion of Europe. The competition was founded in 2001 and was initially staged as a one-off ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

- European Champion * Individual European Championship ** ''

- withdrew from the Qualifying Round 3'' * Individual U-19 European Championship **

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

- 6th place (10 pts + 4th in Rune-Off) **

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

- 3rd place (13 pts + 2nd in Run-Off)

Speedway World Championships Results

Speedway European Championship Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaculik, Martin Slovak speedway riders 1990 births Living people Polish people of Slovak descent People from Žarnovica District Sportspeople from the Banská Bystrica Region